S E P P ( Water review),
Dept of Environment Land Water and
Planning,P.O.Box 500,Melbourne,
8002.
Environment and Planning Committee,
Parliament House,
Spring St, Melbourne 3002,
Dear Sir and Madam,
04 07 2015.
Re Enquiry into Onshore Unconventional Gas Industry,
Groundwater and Surface water.
It is impossible to separate the Gas debate from the Groundwater and Surface Water
debate if one is to take a Global view of the use and abuse of these finite natural resources.
The production of Gas is for domestic and export use in a world hooked on petrochemicals
some of which e.g. oil that have reached peak production. The production and use of water
is vital to food production ,industry and domestic use.
Has water reached peak production?
Victoria's Groundwaters have already been exploited, sixty Victorian towns were solely
supplied by 24,000 of the 69,00 0 bores in 1991. These bores are, I guess, registered bores .
I know of unregistered bores. Do your departments have any idea of the number and their
quantity and rate of extraction?
CHARACTERISTICS OF GROUNDWATER:
Groundwater is subject to the dynamics of
underground flow from Recharge to Discharge areas to Chemical,Biological and physical
interaction with surface and subsurface environment. The rate of discharge depends on
factors such as climate, vegetation , and added contaminents from e.g, mining.
Recharge is affected by : Changes to vegetation cover and patterns of land use.( 60% of
Victoria's forest cover has been lost since white settlement)
DROUGHT
Over extraction for agriculture, domestic and mining activities.
Artificial recharge schemes using inferior quality ground water e.g.mining waste water.
Chemicals used in coal seam gas mining include a range of toxic heavy metals and other
toxins. Some of these are lead.cadmium.chromium ,mercury,and BTEX, no not Botox, or
we'd all look ten years younger .
BTEX a combiation of benzene toluene, ethylbenzine and xylene.
Age 1105 99 Gippsland farmers were having to drill deeper to find water
The State Governent did a study to find if oil and gas mining in Bass Strait was contributing
to a diminution in Gippsland underground water supplies especial ly in drought. The aquifer
is a crucial supply of groundwater and extends from the Latrobe Valley to East Gippsland
and out under Bass Strait. A steady decline in aquifer pressure has been recorded over the
last 25 years . Department of Natural Resources ,due to difficulty in finding groundwater in
drought, began monitoring the impact of extracting oil gas and water for irrigation
THE REPORT STATED THAT OIL AND GAS EXTRACTION COULD ALSO AFFECT ONSHORE
GROUNDWATER PRESSUURE!
Will the persuit of gas and oil in the Otway Basin have the same deleteous affects?
The National Toxic Network revealed in june 2011,that Australia Pacific LNG Pty Ltd had
been given permission by the Queensland Government to dump waste water from mines
containing 80 DIFFERENT CHEMICALS INTO THE CONDAMINE RIVER FOR AN 18 MONTH
PERIOD. THE CONDAMINE CATCHMENT LINKS WITH THE HEADWATERS OF THE MURRAY
DARLING BASIN.
The Australin on 07 11 2014 reported on " THE GREAT ARTESIAN COAL SEAM GAS RISK". The
report confirmed tyhat the Santos Narrabri CSG project "COULD BE ENOUGH TO STOP
BORES FLOWING THROUGHOUT THE BASIN WHICH IS THE SOLE WATER SOURCE FOR
TOWNS AND FARMS ACCROSS 22% OF AUSTRALIA"
NO ARTESIAN BASIN MEANS NO FARMING, NO CATLE GRAZING, NO IRRIGATION AND NO
DRINKING WATER FOR RURAL COMMUNITIES.
A young mining engineer told me that CSG monitoring in New South Wales was a palling and
only slightly better in Queensland . He said that despite modern casings and sophisticated
propaganda that fugitive escaped methane was rife . Large Mining Companies have
pinpointed the Otway basin for being rich in shale gas deposits .A Victorian Parliamentary
paper has reported that " Potential environmental Implications of hydraulic fracturing of
CSG wells INCLUDE THE RISK OF CREATI NG NEW FRACTURES THAT INTERSECT ADJACENT
AQUI FERS AND CONTAMI NATE WATER RESOURCES WITH FRACTURING FLUIDS ( TOXIC
CHEMICALS, SEE ABOVE), METHANE OR GEOGENIC MATERIALS.
It is little wonder that the Victorian Farmers Federation is the ally of environmentalists
trying to preserve farming and domestic resources from this onslaught .
A queensland farmer says " IT IS INSANITY TO DESTROY PRIME AGRICULTURAL LAND FOR
THESE ACTIVITIES , FOR SHORT TERM DOLLARS WHEN WE NEED TO PRODUCE 70% MORE
FOOD FRROM A DIMINISHING AGRICULTURAL BASE TO FEED AN INCREASING WORLD
POPULATION.
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said we can take a crop out of the ground year after year with prudent farm
practice ,we can only take a mineral once!
Certain polliticians are claiming that we can be the foodbowl of South East Asia, tell'em
they're dreamin' our soils are old, infertile and shallow AND WE DON'T HAVE THE WATER
AND THE WORLD HAS REACHED PEAK PHOSPHORUS! Ask any Dutton fearing Fijian..
The Muray Darling Basin produces 42% of Australia's food and fibre, river basins do
not
stop or change at state borders.each river basin in Australia should be an entity ( regionally
governed ) within say a Federal framework .
We should have a ministry for rivers and aquifers ,and we should have a science
minister!
It is now almost exactly 400 years since Galileo Galilei went to the slammer for aligning
himself with observational scientific evidence. We must " Go with the science " and rescue
our precious survival resources for future generations.
SURFACE WATER: I have been around the "Water argument" man and boy for 70 years ,
since " Black Jack" Mc Ewen my old Dad and a few other( " luminaries?" ) wanted to pipe
the Waranga West chanel so that water bound for the Mallee did not get lost to
evaporation or seepage. I beleive that this water is now going to be delivered by pipeline
to Bridgewater on the L.oddon. Salination was the big problem post early irrigation
construction in the Goulburn Valley and Murray Valley.Agricultural Scientists attest to the
fact that engineers and agricultural specialists were aware of the problems they would
face by just adding water . Drainage had always been an inadequate aftertthought. This was
circa 1890s. Post W.W.1 soldier settlements of inadequate size " took off".
Irrigation was to be the saviour. Along came the salt, have alook at Kerang! Overstocking
and overextraction of water ,because of small holdings appeared. Dad and Uncle
used to drive around saying of the farms " she's been flogged".
Enter the laser, invented in my home town this gave the paddocks an inclined plane with a
dressed surface almost perfectly " flat" that required a third to a half less water to service
the irrigation requirements. In the 1990s and early this century irrigation chanels were
lined with plastic to prevent seepage and the water wheel,famous for its inaccurate
measurement of flow, gave way to modern sophisticated aportionment of water.
This massive change to infrastructure was bitterly panned by agronomists and agricultural
economists . 9 out of ten respondents panned this scheme ,some were farmers ,saying that
the benefits accrued to a few irrigaters. Not enough bang for the buck. It was called "The
Northern Dog"
How do we avoid the pitfalls and entrenched ignorance of the past.
We should have a minister ( Federal ) for rivers. We should have a minister for
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science.
I have recently returned from a 6 week trip looking at Victorian rivers. Commencing at
Cowowa travelling along the Murray to Mildura. Turning off at Kerang travelling upstream
along the Loddon,returnin to the Muray via the tragic Avoca through the mostly dry lakes
to Hattah kulkyne, Wyperfeld, not Sunset National Park because of aerial Goat population
reduction.( less than 500 out of 8000) .Along the Wirnmera River and a bit of Glenelg then
home.
This was done in my feeble amateur way under the guidance of
,the Healthy
Rivers campaigner with ENVIRONMENT VICTORIA an august volunteer organisation
attempting to save our environment from wanton profligate plunder. I tried to observe
degradation of river banks due to human and feral animal activity.
The feral animals are : Goats,pigs,brumbies,foxes,cats,dogs,carp carcasses on banks, mostly
saw goats.
SWAMPS AND MARSHES.
These apply equally to aquifers and surface waters. Dr Peter Macreadie An award winning
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marine ecologistand Australian research Fellow has just finished the first major survey of
Blue Carbon" stored along 2000 km of Victorian Coastline. Blue carbon is stored many
metres deep in vegetated coastal ecosystems,such as mangrove forestssseagrass and
saltmarshes.Dr Macreadie's research in Australia and overseas has demonstrated the fact
that wetlands are able to sequester carbon at 40 times the rate of forests aand for much
longer periods of time. WETLANDS BURY CARBON FOR THOUSANDS OFYEARS, FORESTS FOR
TWO HUNDRED YEARS AT MOST
The $ Sbillion marina development at Geelong will make the developer millions but they will
not be required to offset the destruction of wetlands by clearing and dredging by the use of
externallities. The poisonous destruction of these precious environmental assets by
upstream pollution of surface waters and aquifers must be stopped.
Currently the Werribee River is polluted by weed infestation ,the name of which I can
neither spell nor pronounce. Water is required for irrigation of the vegetables and fruit that
is grown in great variety in close proximity to the city of Melbourne. This agriculture
contributes to the $ 6 billion agricultural industry in Melboune's periurban fringe and to
6,000 jobs. The construction of a port at BayWest with its land side infrastructure together
with the marina in Geelong would wipe out agricultural values and be an environmental
disaster.
The destruction of
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Bluecarbon" storages is demonstrated at Koo Wee Rup on
Westernport Bay. The road approaching Phillip Island was laid on corduroys ( logs laid
parallel ) to allow passage of wheeled vehicles .Then it was thought prudent to drain the
swamp. this caused particulates to be carried into the bay in all their turgid photosynthetic
destructiveness. We are experiencing the World's sixth devastating species loss, ask any
street corner dinosaur how they feel about this!
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Formerly ignorance was an excuse we no longer have that dubious luxury. Go with the
science.
State Environment Protection Policy ( Waters) poses many penetrating questions. e.g. Q 19
I have named some of the areas that need regulation .The Environment Protection and
Biodiversity Act ( Federal) demonstrated the lack of stringent inspections .The Act needed
broadening and added depth. Governments don't like being employers and private
contractors are inadequate. ( the building industry is a great example.) The World is gross ly
overpopulated to the point where five eighths of the planet's population wake up with an
empty belly. Should we be growing cotton ,not a source of food. Should we be growing
sugar cain and polluting the Barrier Reef? And contributing to the obesity epidemic which
will stall our health system with diabesity, cardio vascular disease and a community whose
health is ravaged by the imperatives of transnational qnd international corporate greed.
AND DON'T START ME ON TRANS PACIFIC PARTNERSHIPS AND II INVESTOR STATE DISPUTE
SEITLEMENT" I
All food production depends on water, you don't need reminding that Australia is the driest
occupied continent on Earth. In that respect we are NOW overpopulated.
fr< V/>R.o N Q 5, Ido accept this policy with the following qualification:
fvl_ r{
Vl
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r°f"O
' VV'.
L--,,1 Nt
You will see by this magnificent diagram what i think is the ideal for community,agriculture,
industry AND ENVIRONMENT.
BARNABY AND THE WHITE PAPER: The Federal Government ( The Age 04 07 2015) will pour
$ 300 million into infrastructure for the competitive farm package ,this will be added to
$200 million for dams in Northern Australia. This will create a $ 500 million NATIONAL
WATER INFRASTRUCTURE FUND.
The total package will be $ 4billion with $ 2.5 billion being repayable for drought releif over
the next decade. Dams are a worry, they interrupt the natural river flow and flushing by
storing the water for irrigation. They destroy vital ecosystem services. The old method of
flood irrigation was to hold the water on the land side of the levee banks . However this
method raised the salt table and DELIVERED SALINATED WATER BACK INTO THE RIVER
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ADDING TO THE SALINE GRADIENT!. You may posit the argument that environmental flows
do that ,but timing and water depth handle that in a fairly innocuous manner.
Dams threaten ecosystems, flumes may be a better answer in that they do not hold water
within the river's stream thus not interfering with natural flows. Before white settlement
the Murray used to " flush" into the sea 9 years out of ten. It is now down to 1year out of
ten !The Coorong now has a metre of water in it following the last drought, so the acid
sulphates have been diluted. An old timer told me that another drought as devastating as
the last one won't be recoverable.The Murray at Bottle Bend had a ph of battery acid in the
last drought . In the 1850s graziers could wheel their stock up to Lake Alexandrina and Lake
Albert and water graze their stock.
There are now barages in place to prevent the salt wedge getting into the Murray and
going up past Murray Bridge.
All in the name of progress and growth.
CUT THE CRAP: This is a campaign run by Environment Victoria in an attempt to keep stock
from defaecating in our rivers and streams. To this end they are trying to encourage farmers
and landholders to fence the river banks and pump water to troughs to avoid bank
destruction by man aand animals domestic and feral. There are many extraction pumps on
allthe rivers I have seen. But fencing is rare and inadequate. Fencing is costly and is frankly
beyond the budget of many farmers. Indeed it is difficult to broach environmental values
without being accused of being a bludger on Government money.
Farm produce is in a very competitive market with farm gate prices being driven down by
predatory pricing wars of the multinationals.
It is very difficult to be a parasite on Government money when one is a volunteer . I
contacted Blazeaid who do a lot of fencing to contain stock post bushfires. Their statutes
require them to act in National emergency. I suggested to them that 80% of Victoria' s
rivers being polluted is a national emergency. They said " DISCUSS IT WITH A POLITICIAN"!
So I'm telling you: Sir Henry Parkes ( the father of Federation ) did'nt do us any favours. He
did'nt think South Australia deserved water! And he left behind lines on maps that don't
relate to regional needs.
We need to get rid of the States and govern via the Federal Government and the regions
e.g river basins ( Murray/Darling),Tropical Subtropcal,Savannah. Dese rt, Temperate and
Tasmania. Many authors beleive that the current system of Government cannot save us
from climate disaster.( Too serious to be left to Polliticians)We could end up with the
equivalent of the dreadful tinkering a t the edges that masquerades as tax reform.
We need a ministry of WATER .
AND A DEDICATED MINISTER FOR SCIENCE.
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And lnspestorates that are broader ,deeper and far more disciplined. Self regulation is "
excreta tauri". I 've been there!
We've now got a huntin', shootin', fishin party. They should be sooled onto the ferals, buy
them some ammo. Tell the Greens to get over it. Get hold of Andrew Cox from Invasive
Species Council and do something about this dreadful feral scourge!
Sarne old same old will not get us resolution to our water problems, business as usual
should not even be contemplated.
BE BOLD, BE REFORMERS .
My old Dad used to say " Assemble the facts and see if the TRUTH emerges. ls'nt that your
job description? I hope your deliberations are marked with resounding success, they have to
be.
Thankyou for receiving this submission,
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•
WEDNESDA Y.JULY 8,2015 HERALDSUN.COM.AU
IE REPORT REVEALS SHOCl<ING
+
NEWS 09
HERALDSUN.COM.AU WEDNESDAY, JULY 8.2015
+
LEVELS OF E.COLI CONTAMINATION IN POPULAR CITY WATERWAYS
HARMFUL bacteria riddles
Melbowue waterways at levels
up to 1400 times the safe Limit.
Melbourne Water's latest
report on city waterways fow1d
Elster Creek in Elsternwick
had the highest average E.coli
reading: 4150 organisms per
100 millilitres of water.
And the highest level sample had a shocking 280,000 organisms per 100millilitres.
The safe level, for swimming or waterskiing, isjust 200
organisms per 100 n:iillilitres.
Elster Creek's catchment
covers about 40 square kilomeh·es, and it collects rw1-off
from several inner southeastern and bayside subul'bs.
Melbourne Water says the
presence of E.coli can be due to
dog, bird and native animal
droppings washing into waterways, leaky sewers; or illegal
plumbing connections.
Other creeks with high
E.coli levels in 2014 were Ashwood's Gardiners Creek, Carrum Downs' Boggy Creek,
Bayswater North's Bungaloook Creek, and Coburg's Edgars
Creek.
In2013, Gardiners Creek recorded the highest average
reading:3200 per lOOml.
Melbourne's
ANDREW JEFFERSON
famous Yana River has also
failed its latest health test.
All nine of last year's readings at Princes B1idge, near
where Moomba's watersk.i.ing
is held, breached standards for
swimming or watersk.i.ing.
The lowest E.coli reading
was 280 organisms per lOOml;
the highest, 4100per lOOml.
Te1Ty Lobert, from the
Friends of Elster Creek, said he
was astonished by the high
reading at his local waterway
at Cochrane St, Elsternwick.
"It is only supposed to be a
stormwater drain at this point.
There shouldn't be any crosscontamination with sewage;
they are distinctly separate
systems," he said.
"We do get reports of pollution a few times a year,
things Like oil or sludge or
some horrible colour in the
water, which we refer to the
EPA, to investigate."
He said the results would
shock residents of Elwood, Elstemwick and Brfghton .
"People regularly walk their
dogs around here.and I've even
seen kids splashing around in
the water, which is very worrying given those readings," Mr
Lobert said. "Itwould also be a
worry for Elwood residents because they do get flooding into
their properties . If the water is
heavily contaminated with
E.coli, that's not good news."
Tim Fletcher, a professor of
urban ecohydrology at the
University of Melbourne, said
urban stormwater polluted
most of Melbourne's creeks.
"E.coli isoften used as an indicator of the risk to human
health of waterways, but urban
stormwater delivers a wide
range of pollutants, including
sediments,
nuhients
and
heavy metals,"he said.
"In a city such as Melbourne, with old infrastructure, there is likely to be some
illegal cross-connections, so
some wastewater gets into the
stormwater pipe network.
"Even without these crossconnections, pathogens can
come from other sources, such
as bird and animal faeces."
Prof Fletcher said there was
an increasing push to change
the way Melburnians managed
the urban water system, and in
particular stormwater.
. "By harvesting stormwater,
as well as infilh·ating it in the
urban landscape with systems
such as rain gardens, we can
significantly reduce the total
amount of run-off, and improve its quality," he said.
"Because the system is so
big and complex, this can't be
done overnight, but there is already major investment by
Melbourne Water and others
to achieve this goal."
Melbowue Water waterways manager Gavan O'Neill
said development had taken a
toll on waterways, paiticularly
urban ones.
"Melbourne's ai·e in relatively good shape, but there's
still a lot of work to be done,"
Mr O'Neill said.
Melbowue Water said no
sewage spills from South East
Water had been recorded in
the area at the time of its sampling of Elster Creek, nor had
there been a discharge from
the sewer emergency release
structure.
It said the high reading apnP:irPrl to hP :i onP-off :inrl rlirl